Signs welcoming Liu Xia, the widow of the late Nobel peace prize-winning political dissident Liu Xiaobo, at Berlin-Tegel airport on 10 July 2018.
Photograph: Jens Schlueter/EPA

The poet Liu Xia, who flew to freedom in Germany on Tuesday, has never been charged with or even accused of an offence. As she once explained, her crime was loving Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel peace laureate who died of cancer last July, while serving 11 years over his call for democratic reform. China said that Ms Liu enjoyed “all freedoms in accordance with the law”; friends described almost eight years of house arrest in such punitive conditions that Ms Liu said dying was easier than living. Whether she will address such matters publicly is unclear, not least because her brother remains in China.

China’s growing wealth and power, and economic worries elsewhere, have muted international criticism of its human rights infringements even as it becomes more repressive. Its punishment of Norway over Mr Liu’s peace prize was particularly effective. But his widow’s radiant smile this week sends a message of its own. The principled and determined stance taken by Germany and its chancellor made a difference in the end. Others should take note.